Santa Clara County Fair’s new manager grew up at the fair

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Mackenzie Ward, left, 18, and Lauryn Tercero, 13, wait to enter the ring to show their sheep during livestock judging in the livestock barn at the Santa Clara County Fair in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 30, 2013. The fair officially opens on Thursday and runs through Sunday. (Gary Reyes/Bay Area News Group)

SAN JOSE — Sarah Pence has been coming to the Santa Clara County Fair her whole life. At age 7, she showed her first rabbit here; more than a decade later, she got her first job here plugging numbers into spreadsheets. This year, at only 25, she’s the fair manager, responsible for the entire four-day operation.

“I grew up here. This is my home,” said Pence, of Santa Clara.

Pence has an encyclopedic knowledge of the fairgrounds, to the point where she is a walking Jill-of-all-trades for the fair’s 25 employees and 50-plus volunteers. In the span of about half an hour, she was approached to deliver ribbons, organize licensing and even attend to the bathrooms.

“I’m more of everyone’s assistant,” she said. But her chief responsibility is to conceive a vision for this year’s fair.

It’s a cautiously optimistic vision, given the Santa Clara County Fair’s recent history. In 2008, the county stopped funding the fair, which had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars the year before.

“Attendance had been declining up to [2007]. We had an increase that year, but by then it was too late,” said Steve Stagnaro, the fair’s director of marketing. “The next year, we put on a very, very small, barely alive, three-day event.”

In 2008, what was called a “youth fair” was pretty much some kids showing livestock in front of a hastily convened panel of judges. They had one vendor selling corn dogs and lemonade at a big loss.

“Rock bottom was 2008,” Pence said. “We can’t give you an attendance figure because we didn’t have anyone at the gate to track how many people came that summer.”

Pence, a former member of the agriculture-driven youth development organization 4-H, aged out of competition at 19. Animals and the fair were her life, so the next summer, it seemed like a natural place to find a job.

“I was put to work as a data entry clerk,” she said. “Two years ago I was promoted to exhibits manager — overseeing livestock, competitive exhibits, vendors.” Two months ago, she was promoted to fair manager. The fair has now fully consumed her life.

“Some people ask, ‘How can you work 200 hours a week and still be chipper?’ ” she said. “I love it.”

She knows the fair she presides over is much different than the one she showed her rabbit at in 1996. That fair ran 19 days, almost five times as long as this year’s.

But even with a modest budget, Pence is proud of how she’s expanding the event incrementally, bringing back past successes and launching new initiatives that will hopefully bring the fair back to financial health.

“We’re doing a lot more of what we did a little bit last year,” Stagnaro said. “This year we are adding wine tasting … trying to bring a traditional, wine tasting experience to the fairgrounds.”

“They’re not Tim McGraw or Justin Bieber,” Pence said. “But when people hear ‘Everybody Have Fun Tonight’ they’ll have a great time.”

Many were having fun even before the fair’s opening on Thursday. The Santa Clara County Fairgrounds’ Exposition Hall was converted into a barn and showing area on Sunday; all week, it has been crawling with kids and their animals. Pence navigates the grounds like she’s lived there her whole life, which is not so far from the truth.

But the way you can tell she’s at home is the sheer number of people saying hello, giving her hugs, or asking her how a teacher or a family member is. High school students and their grandparents alike greet Pence as if she were an old friend.

“I’ve watched some of these kids from the time they were 9, and now they’re graduating high school,” she said. “I love seeing kids go from shy, not talking, and now they’ll run up to me and practically tackle me to the ground.”

In some ways, she’s still one of the kids. She may have new responsibilities –“I never thought I would have to draw a map for the port-a-potties,” she said — but, when the sun sets on a night at the fair, she is still filled with the same sense of wonder she felt as a 7-year-old.

“We always joke that you get bit by the fair bug,” she said. “Once you get bit, you’re hooked.”

Contact Edward Ngai at 408-920-5064.

Santa Clara County Fair

The Santa Clara County Fair opens Thursday at 1 p.m and runs through Sunday.Hours: Thursday, 1-9 p.m.; Friday, noon-9 p.m.; Saturday, noon-10 p.m.; Sunday, noon-9 p.m.Admission: Ticket prices are $8 for adults, and $5 for kids 11 and younger and seniors age 65 and older. There are discounts for advance purchase. Location: The fairgrounds are at 344 Tully Road.For more information, go to: www.thefair.org